Combined pump and permanent siphon tube

ABSTRACT

The combined pump and permanent siphon tube of the present invention comprising a substantially inverted U-shaped siphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed at one of the terminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphon conduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pump and permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and an orifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

United States Patent 1 Lidolph 1 Aug. 7, 1973 COMBINED PUMP ANDPERMANENT SIPHON TUBE [76] Inventor: Ben B. Lidolph, Rt. No. 1, New

Plymouth, Idaho 83655 [22] Filed: Nov. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 203,102

[52] U.S. Cl 137/142, 417/234, 417/437 [51] Int. Cl. F041 10/00, F16143/00 [58] Field of Search... 137/123, 142-153;

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2,556 10/1866Great Britain 137/147 Primary Examinerl-1enry T. Klinksiek AttorneyJohnW. Kraft [57] ABSTRACT The combined pump and permanent siphon tube ofthe present invention comprising a substantially inverted U-shapedsiphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having a single-loopedspiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed at one of theterminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tubeportion disposed at the end opposite the conduitreceiving end of thespiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having asingle-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphonconduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and ahorizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite thesiphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pumpand permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and anorifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDMIB 1w 3.750.691

SHEEI 1 (IF 2 FIG. I

BEN B. LIDOLPH TOR- PATENIED 3.750.691

sum 2 or 2 BEN B. LIDOLPH INVENTOR.

COMBINED PUMP AND PERMANENT SIPHON TUBE FIELD OF INVENTION The presentinvention relates to siphon apparatus, and more particularly to siphonapparatus which are operable to permanently maintain liquid in a siphonconduit and which may be operable to resume a siphon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Means commonly used and employed to retainthe prime of a siphon in a conduit include a variety of pluggingmechanisms disposed at the head or orifice of the siphon. Pluggingmechanisms often include hingedly mounted gates or valves actuated bylevers or other linkages. An alternative method used to retain the primeof a siphon is to dispose the entranceway of the head of the siphonconduit in a standing body of water. In this type of prime-holdingapparatus a surplus of water, over the minimum level, creates a pressureon the entranceway, and the siphon is resumed.

Means commonly used and employed to resume a siphon in a suitablyconfigured conduit usually employ a variety of pumps disposed at eitherof the terminal ends or in the middle of the siphon conduit. Generally,pumps used with siphon tubes include a variety of ventricle pumps andbladder-type pumps. Ventricle pumps employ complex mechanisms forpumping liquid into the siphon conduit. Bladder pumps are intended to becollapsed thereby creating a low pressure equilibrium and then releasedcreating a suction by a change in equilibrium.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide meansoperable to hold the prime of a siphon in a conduit, employing meansintegrally in a simple arrangement of the siphon conduit.

It is another object of this invention to provide siphon resuming means,provided as an integral part of the siphon conduit, employing anarrangement of the siphon conduit which is operable to create suction.

These and other objects shall become apparent from the descriptionfollowing, it being understood that modifications may be made withoutaffecting the teachings of the invention here set out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, the combined pump and permanentsiphon tube of the present invention comprising a substantially invertedU-shaped siphon conduit; a head lock including a conduit having asingle-looped spiral portion unstandingly and parallelly disposed at oneof the terminal ends of the siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposedtube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduit-receiving end ofthe spiral portion; and an orifice lock including a conduit having asingle-looped spiral portion disposed dependently from the siphonconduit at its end opposite the head lock-engaging end, and ahorizontally disposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite thesiphon conduit-receiving end of the spiral portion. The combined pumpand permanent siphon tube may be provided with a head lock and anorifice lock fabricated of flexible resilient material.

A more thorough and comprehensive understanding may be had from thedetailed description of the preferred embodiment when read in connectionwith the drawings forming a part of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view ofthe combined pump and permanent siphon tube of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the orifice lock ofthe permanent siphon tube of this invention, and includes the orificelock compressed in broken lines for illustrative purposes, and istypical of both the head lock and orifice lock of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to theFIG. 1, the combined pump and permanent siphon tube is shown toadvantage and identified by the numeral 10. The tube 10 comprises .asiphon conduit 11, a head lock 12, and an orifice lock 13. The siphonconduit 11 is a conduit which has a summit or raised portion between itsopposite terminal ends. Hence, the conduit 11 is of a substantiallyinverted U-shaped curved configuration. The curved configuration of theconduit 11 is uniform over the range of the curve. For reasonshereinafter later described with respect to the operation, it has beenfound to advantage to fabricate the conduit 11 of a material which issubstantially rigid and being operable to retain a predetermined curve.The conduit 11 may be fabricated with metal tubing or with flexibleconduit provided with a rigid spine having a predetermined curvature.

The head lock 12 is a conduit having a single-looped spiral portion 14disposed at one of the terminal ends of the conduit 11 and beingparallel to the conduit 11. The spiral portion 14 is disposedupstandingly from the uppermost terminal sides of the conduit 11. Thespiral portion 14 is provided with a projecting tube 15 at the endopposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of spiral portion 14. The tube15 is disposed from the spiral portion 14 substantially horizontallywith respect to the rectilinear axis of the tube 10. Inpractice, it hasbeen found to advantage to slightly incline the tube 15 upwardly towardthe the terminal end of the .conduit 11 to facilitate flow and toprovide means to maintain distance of the terminal end above the bottomof the channel from which the combined pump and siphon tube 10 is todraw. It has also been found to advantage to include an entranceway 16disposed at the terminal end of the tube 15 to further facilitate intakeof the tube 10.

The orifice lock 13 is a conduit disposed parallelly to the siphonconduit 11 at the end opposite the head lock 12 on the conduit 11. Theorifice lock 13 includes a single-looped spiral portion 17 dependentlydisposed from the lowermost terminal side of the head-engaging end ofthe tube 10. In like manner to the head lock 12, the orifice lock 13 isprovided with a horizontally projecting output tube 18. In operation,the tube 10 may be filled with liquid, such as water, by creating asufficient suction at the orifice lock terminal end, while disposing theopposing head lock 12 into a body of liquid. A continuous volume ofliquid is retained in the tube 10 by cohesion of the liquid whichmaintains an equilibrium by the high pressure pull on the liquid createdby the head lock 12, and by an equal and opposite pressure in theorifice lock 13. The siphon may be activated by disposing the head lockentranceway 16 into reservoir of fluid and orienting the orifice lock 13at a level sufficiently lower in elevation than the head lock 12 todisplace the equilibrium to result in a flow of liquid through the tube10.

Referring to the FIGS. 1 and 2, it has been found to advantage tofabricate the head lock 12 and the orifice lock 13 of flexible resilientmaterial, such as rubber, plastic, or the like, which may be operable tobe selectively compressed. In operation, a siphon can be activated bydisposing the entranceway 16 of the head lock 12 in a body of liquid andalternately compressing and releasing the spiral portion 14 against theconduit 11 while blocking the terminal end of the orifice lock 13. Fluidis expelled from the tube by compressing the resilient spiral portion 14and creating a low pressure equilibrium. When the spiral portion 14 isreleased, a suction is created in the tube 10; and fluid is drawn fromthe source of fluid through the tube 10. The process is repeated until asiphon is established. Alternatively, a siphon can be activated by meansof an orifice lock 13 made of flexibly resilient material. The terminalend of the orifice lock 13 need not be blocked. The

spiral portion 17 of the orifice lock 13 is compressed will be apparentto those skilled in the art that many physical changes could be made inthe apparatus without altering the inventive concepts and principlesembodied therein. Hence, it is intended that the scope of the inventionbe limited only to the extent indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A combined pump and permanent siphon tube,

comprising a siphon conduit having a substantially inverted U- shapedsmooth curved configuration;

a head lock including a conduit having a singlelooped spiral portionupstandingly and parallelly disposed from one of the terminal ends ofsaid siphon conduit, and a substantially horizontally disposed tubeportion disposed at the end opposite the conduit receiving-end of saidspiral portion; and

an orifice lock including a conduit having a singlelooped spiral portiondisposed parallelly dependently from the end opposite the headlock-engaging end of said siphon conduit, and a horizontally disposedmis afiiaiiaisbbsff the sad opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end ofsaid spiral portion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said head lock and said orificelock are fabricated of flexible resilient material.

1. A combined pump and permanent siphon tube, comprising a siphonconduit having a substantially inverted U-shaped smooth curvedconfiguration; a head lock including a conduit having a single-loopedspiral portion upstandingly and parallelly disposed from one of theterminal ends of said siphon conduit, and a substantially horizontallydisposed tube portion disposed at the end opposite the conduitreceiving-end of said spiral portion; and an orifice lock including aconduit having a single-looped spiral portion disposed parallellydependently from the end opposite the head lock-engaging end of saidsiphon conduit, and a horizontally disposed tube portion disposed at theend opposite the siphon conduit-receiving end of said spiral portion. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said head lock and said orifice lockare fabricated of flexible resilient material.